Keep Moving
by juelsxZX
Summary: Claudia and Steve snag and bag an artifact but it has consequences that the whole team will need to fix. With a villainous holder of an artifact to oppose them, will the team be able to pull through?
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first ever fanfic...R&R please (: **

**Any spelling mistakes and grammar are my own, so soz bout that if you see any**

**I do not own Warehouse 13**

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Claudia ran after him down the busy streets of the city, apologising hurriedly as she barged past other pedestrians. This guy she was after had the artefact and her perfect retrieval rate was _not_ going to be ruined by some pathetic man who only cared about money and where he was going to get his next score.

She had chased him down several blocks and was losing steam sprinting after him; he was ahead of her by a good twenty meters, she looked at him and noticed he was on his phone.

_Craptastic,_ she thought _he'll be arranging a pick up won't he?_

She continued running, despite the burning stitch in her side as the man turned a corner. She rounded it just in time to see him getting into an old black car of some kind. Claudia stopped running and focused on the number plate now getting smaller as it sped away, it was probably fake but that was all she would need.

_WH04 TJ0_ she made a mental note of it in her head then bent double, placing her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

"Claudia!" Steve shouted as he ran up the street towards her, trailing behind.

"I lost him, Jinksy" she replied when he had caught up.

"What happened?"

"He got into a car and drove off, he'd arranged it so he's not working alone" she took the Farnsworth out of her bag.

"Did you manage to get the plate?"

"Please, does a cheese doodle?" she flipped open the shiny black cover and called Artie. He answered after of couple of 'ZZZZZZRRRT ZZZZRRRRT's'

"What is it?" he asked impatiently, his glasses askew, clearly in the middle of something at his desk back at the warehouse.

"Oh, nice to see you too, eyebrows," Claudia replied with her own eyebrows raised.

"Yes – well I'm very busy Claudia. With you out with Steve on one case and Pete and Myka on another, the research required for both is very difficult to do when you both keep calling me every ten minutes!" he snapped.

"Jeez old man, cool it. We just need you to track a car down for us"

"Plate number?" Artie asked a little exasperated sigh in his voice.

"WH04 TJO" she said

Artie noted down the number.

"Is there any more info cropped up about the artefact?" Steve asked him over Claudia's shoulder.

"From what I've managed to dig up, the only possible artefact that has the power to turn objects into water is Theseus's ring" he moved the Farnsworth onto his computer screen to show an image of a golden ring. "Ancient Greek hero, son of Poseidon. Theseus was given the ring by his father as a reward for being the hero that he was, saving maidens and killing beasts and so on. Stories cropped up about the ring possessing great power"

"And that's where the whole magic-y water thing comes in right?"

"Yes it is believed that Theseus used the ring in battle to help him destroy his enemy's. Whoever wear's the ring has the power to turn objects as well as people into water"

"Yeah we gathered that Artie, our guy Max Killner just wiped out 3 men selling crack and ran off with the all the dope" Claudia said.

"Alright, I'll get back to you with details of the car" with that, Artie shut his Farnsworth, abruptly breaking the connection and the conversation.

"Is he a little touchy today? Or is it just me?" Claudia turned to Steve

"Maybe he just needs a nap?"

"Hm. You know, I've only ever caught Artie sleeping on the job once and I think he wants to avoid making a habit of it" She shut the Farnsworth and but it back in her bag as they headed back down the busy street to Steve's car.


	2. Chapter 2

The prius was parked non-parallel to the curb outside the meeting place of the secret drug dealing building as Steve hadn't had to time to straighten up when they were pursuing the artefact. They got into the car and Claudia immediately took out her laptop from underneath the passenger seat, she was just loading it up when the Farnsworth rang.

"Steve would you get that?" Claudia asked as she was busy with her laptop, trying to get more information on Theseus's ring. He opened the device to Artie's same old greying beard and under tamed eyebrows.

"I have the information on the car you're after, the registration is fake but the current location of the of it is away from the city, in what looks like some kind of farm building, co-ordinates 67 – 98 maybe Claudia can-''

"Already on it" Claudia interrupted him as she typed with vicious speed on the keyboard the co-ordinates to their new destination.

"Alright, thanks Artie" Steve shut the Farnsworth and drove out of the city street, out of the city and into the country lanes.

They drove for another thirty minutes, following the co-ordinates from Claudia's laptop. The weather was more noticeable in the farmlands as the sky scrapers of the city tended to block out the sky somewhat. It was boring weather, just a plain white cloudy sky, steadily getting greyer, ready for rain and the temperature wasn't much better either.

"We're a little low on gas" Steve said, staring at the fuel gauge. Claudia looked up, only slightly worried. "We should be fine"

"This is it" Claudia said as they turned left down a long dirt road leading to a lonely shabby looking old farmhouse.

Steve pulled over half way down the dirt road. "I think we should know how many are in there before we even try to snag this thing" he said as he took off his seat belt.

"OK, you wanna go round the back? We should be able to figure out how many are in there if we peak through a window"

"Let's go then"

They got out of the prius and briskly walked towards the big building. It was very run down and in dire need of a handyman to fix the many holes in the roof and the broken windows and pipes. This place was the perfect meet up location for guys like Max; it was isolated, surrounded by miles of fields, had loads of room for larger gatherings and was difficult to find unless you already knew it was there. They passed the black car they had traced earlier parked in what was once the driveway, now just a continuation of the dirt road.

Claudia and Steve quickened their pace as they neared one of the un-broken windows. They crouched down underneath it, and heard voices coming from inside.

"...just think guys, with even just half of this stuff sold to the right buyer, we still get loads of cash between us and the remaining crack"

"Seriously good haul man, this thing really is neat, huh"

Claudia stole a quick glance through the window and saw four pretty big Caucasian guys stood in the centre of a large room with old wooden walls, ceiling and floor. She ducked back down as quickly as she had peaked up.

"There're four of them from what I can see. Steve these guys don't look so inviting...how do we go about doing this?" Claudia whispered.

"Well we can't just knock on the front door and ask them to just hand it over"

"Oh no shit Sherlock" Claudia rolled her eyes with a small smile on her face, still keeping her voice quiet. "I say we move to one of the broken windows, we each take out one of them with our Tesla's, that's two down, leaving Max and one other guy left"

"Then what?"

"I'm working on it Jinksy" she said while clearly wracking her brains for an easy solution to their predicament. "The remaining two would freak out, then they would discover us sat under their window and game over. I can't see these guys being the co-operative type, do you?"

"No not at-'' Steve stopped. "Does it seem quiet to you?"

The pair of them were silent. The men had stopped talking, stopped making any noise what so ever. Claudia's breathing quickened ever so slightly as she and Steve slowly looked up.


	3. Chapter 3

Towering above them was two of the men, both with angry expressions on their faces. One of them raised a base ball bat seemingly out of no-where and completely smashed the window in one fluid motion. Sharp shards of glass rained down onto the two agents. Steve, on impulse, shielded Claudia from the hard fall of the glass. They both stood up within seconds and moved backwards a few feet away from the newly broken window.

"What the fuck is this?" The guy with the baseball bat spat at them. He jumped through the window followed by the other 3 men. They spaced out in front of Steve and Claudia, making the two of them feel slightly intimidated.

Steve took a deep breath "Look guys we don't want any trouble, we just want Mr. Killner's ring here" he slowly pointed to Max, trying not to look or sound threatening so as to provoke them too much although at this point, they kind of already had.

"Like hell are you getting this ring, you know what this thing does? You take one more step whoever you are and I'll turn you into a fucking puddle" Max threatened Steve.

They were in a tight spot; these guys were too difficult to negotiate with and were not hesitant to cause trouble. Claudia's Tesla was in her bag, she mentally cursed herself for not keeping it in her back pocket like Myka usually does. She couldn't make a move to retrieve it as the men might react. On the other hand, if she didn't do anything, who knows what would happen? Then she remembered, her mini Tesla, concealed down her top! How could she have forgotten? Her eye wandered to Steve's back pocket. There was his Tesla, surely once Claudia made a move, he would catch on and shoot too?

"We don't go after people, we go after artefacts, that ring is one of them. It's dangerous if you keep it" Claudia said "All we want is the ring, then you can go and we won't call the cops" She raised both hands slightly to impose no threat. Any excuse to getting her hands closer to her Mini-Tesla.

"Shut up bitch, who the fuck are you to tell us what to do?" Max pointed his finger with the ring on at her and took a step closer towards the young agent. That was enough for Claudia; she felt angered by his insult and her body reacted to it without thought or hesitation. She retrieved her mini-Tesla in the blink of an eye and fired it straight at Max's chest. He collapsed onto the ground in a heap. This got rid of the danger from the artefact but didn't get rid of the new danger of the three now even more angry men remaining. There was silence for a whole second, during which Claudia heard Steve whisper her name in warning. The silence broke. There was a roar of outrage from the largest of the men, he pulled a shotgun from his back pocket and fired just as swiftly as Claudia had.

Steve reacted to the loud bang of the gun and Tesla'd the guy, who dropped his weapon and fell next to Max. Steve's ears rang so badly from the pulling of the trigger that he didn't hear Claudia's agonising yelp of pain from behind him. Still pumped on adrenaline, Steve Tesla'd the other two men before they could even react to anything. They fell simultaneously to the ground. Steve ran forward, pulling out an artefact bag as he did so and bagged the ring. It sparked only slightly and Steve sighed in relief.

"Oh God" He heard from behind him. He spun round to see Claudia sat on the dirty terrain clutching her left thigh, her face creased in pain.

"Claudia!" Steve ran to her.

"Jinksy...help me" Claudia's voice cracked.

Steve dropped to his knees beside her and looked down at her thigh. Even though Claudia was wearing black skinnies, he could still clearly see a dark stain already spreading across the material.

"Alright, Claudia" He looked at her pain stricken face and said "We have to keep pressure on it, ok? It might hurt a little bit"

"Oh, really? More than it already does?" She replied sarcastically through clenched teeth. Steve pressed his hands hard down onto Claudia's wound, she moaned in pain and squeezed his shoulder. She looked up at the sky, now much greyer, and felt a raindrop land on her cheek. Then another. And another. "Argh man, this is so not the highlight of my day. And now it's raining" she added.

"We need to get you out of here. Quick, before they wake up" Steve said, "You ready to stand?"

Claudia inhaled deeply. The pain was intense, her leg felt heavy and she wasn't sure if she was able to stand but Steve was right, the guys would be waking up soon and they had to get away from the run down farmhouse quickly. "OK, on three yeah?"

"On three" Steve replied

Claudia took another deep breath "One"

Steve wrenched Claudia up from the ground onto her feet and she shouted in pain and surprise. Her leg screamed at her and she shut her eyes hard, as if that would help. It didn't.

"Steve!" she hardly ever called him by his first name. She was not thankful for what he just did.

"It's better this way"

"You said on three" Claudia huffed.

"Sorry Claud, but we really have to get out of here" Steve replied as the rain suddenly became much stronger. Claudia placed her arm around Steve's shoulder for support and he helped her along with his hand around her waist.

Each step was agony, he leg felt like it was on fire and with each movement the fire burned more viciously. Claudia bit her tongue to stop from crying out. The rain lashed down now, causing her red hair to plaster itself to her face also soaking her through, making her feel freezing.

They had made it about half way, Steve encouraging her to keep going. Claudia's breathing was heavy and she was beginning to feel tired just from walking thirty odd meters. She knew it was because she was losing a lot of blood and it spurred her on in thinking that if they didn't get out of here soon then she could lose even more blood and she didn't want to think about what would happen then.

She could see the prius about twenty meters away now, getting a good cleaning from the rain.

"Come on, Claud, nearly there...come on, keep moving" Steve said gently into her ear

Claudia tried to respond but all that she managed was a low groan. She turned her head to look at him, drops of water running from the end of his nose she then noticed he was bleeding on his neck from several different cuts.

"Steve your neck..." was all she managed to tell him before a fresh wave of pain came over her and she couldn't help but let out a sharp gasp but Steve still knew what she was trying to tell him.

"Don't worry about me...come on get in" They had reached the car. Steve opened the door to the back seat and helped Claudia inside. He looked at her now very pale face and knew she needed medical attention. She was losing too much blood and it was already taking its toll. Claudia rested her head against the seat and closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the world of pain she was in. At first when the bullet had hit, it didn't seem to hurt at all compared to what she was feeling now. She felt faint, her breathing was heavy despite the fact that she was now sat down and she was shivering with cold from the rain.

Steve made sure Claudia was secure and got into the driver's seat. The rain hammered against the roof of the car as Steve turned the keys in the ignition. The car hummed into life and he put his foot down, accelerating fast. His worried gaze once again flicked towards the level of gas that remained.

Not a lot.


	4. Chapter 4

The car sped down the dirt road. Steve looked behind him at Claudia. Her head still resting on the headrest of the seat, eyes closed.

"Claudia. Claudia!" Steve had to raise his voice slightly to wake her up from semi-consciousness. She opened her eyes and quickly brought her head forward. "You have to keep the pressure on it, alright? You have to stay awake"

"Uh-huh" Claudia muttered as she winced against the pressure from her bloody hands. Steve turned back to the road. They had put enough distance between themselves and the men but were still in the country lanes. The rain hammered the car and the wind-screen wipers had difficulty keeping up. Steve had sweat on his brow, he was stressed out. _There isn't enough gas, we're gonna be stuck here._ He thought as he continued down the road. His eyes couldn't help but continuously dart towards the fuel gauge as it drained further and further down. He guessed they might be able to make it another mile or two but after that what would he do? Where would they end up? He was beginning to panic. He took several deep breaths, just like he did in his meditation, to calm him down. He didn't want to tell Claudia that they were soon to be out of gas but on the other hand, she needed to know what was going on and he was a rubbish liar anyway.

"Claudia, we only have a tiny amount of gas left, we'll have to stop soon"

"My laptop...pass me my laptop" Claudia managed through her pain.

"Claud, what are you-'' Steve said, looking at her via the front mirror.

"Just pass me it, please" Claudia interrupted him, too tired to explain to him why she needed her laptop. Steve, with one eye on the road, gave Claudia her precious computer from under the passenger seat. She opened it with her unoccupied hand and began typing away with just the one hand. Steve didn't question what she was doing and continued on. However he only managed to continue for another hundred meters down the road before the prius simply stopped. They had left the field domain and were now bordering on the very outskirts of the city. Ordinary warehouses filled with ordinary things were in sight. They had reached some civilization but there seemed to be no chance of finding any other people. The place was seemingly empty.

Claudia was using a GPS system on her laptop to find out their position. Still breathing heavily as she typed, she found that there was a couple more miles worth of warehouses before any signs of suburbia at least.

"For God's sake!" Steve hit the steering wheel with his hand in annoyance. He got out of the car, the rain still strong and joined Claudia in the back. He knew there was no spare gas in the boot; he had let Pete borrow it a few days ago.

"I know...our position" Claudia spoke to him in-between breaths, showing Steve her laptop. Her face was pale and clammy and her eyes were blinking an awful lot more than normal. She was fighting to stay conscious; she was losing too much blood. Plus she was shivering from the cold.

"I'm getting you an ambulance. Right now. They'll know our position and will be able to find us" Steve put Claudia's laptop in the foot well and took out his phone, wondering if he would even have signal through all of this weather. He checked the screen, he did. _Thank you_, he thought. As he dialled the number, Claudia's vision began to blur and she couldn't really register what Steve was saying down the phone. She tried to fight it but it was just too hard. Her head rolled onto Steve's shoulder as she completely lost consciousness.

"What condition is she in now?" The woman from the hospital asked Steve on the phone.

"She's-'' Steve felt Claudia's head rest on his shoulder and looked at her face, she was out. "She's just fallen unconscious, just this second"

"How long ago has it been since the incident?"

"I'm not sure, maybe twenty minutes" Steve replied "We've been keeping pressure on it but she's still losing too much blood, I don't know what else to do" He felt her neck for a pulse just to check. There was one but it was faint.

"We've sent an ambulance to your position; it should arrive in roughly fifteen minutes, until then keep applying pressure and try to keep her conscious for as long as possible. Don't move her from her current position"

"OK, thank you" Steve replied and hung up the phone. "Claudia" He looked down at her soaked red head resting on his shoulder. He knew she wouldn't come round simply by saying her name. He felt guilty for what he was about to do but it needed to be done. She needed to stay conscious.

Steve gently pushed Claudia off him and sat her against the seat once more. He leaned forward to the front of the prius.

"Here goes" he took a deep breath and slammed his hand down on the horn of the car. The sound swarmed through the prius, Steve didn't take his hand away and looked back at Claudia, she was wincing and the sound. Wincing. She was conscious, or there about. Steve removed his hand as Claudia let out another groan.

"Jinksy Jinksy Jinksy...stop it dude" She breathed quietly, just above a whisper.

Steve sat back down. Claudia had her eyes shut still but at least she was speaking.

"What did the hospital guys say?"

"They said they'll be here in around fifteen minutes ok? We just need to hold on till then alright?" Steve put his arm around her small shoulders and she gently moved into his side, resting against him once more. His jacket was wet and a little cold but his body heat was still there, and she couldn't help but close her eyes. "Claud, they also said you have to stay awake, so talk to me"

"I am awake"

"You might not be in a few seconds, so keep talking to me"

Claudia let out a small half laugh, half sigh.

"What's funny?" Steve asked

"This just isn't how I imagined today would go"

"Tell me about it" Steve agreed

"Turns out getting shot really does hurt a lot more than how they play it out in movies." She paused for a few seconds "When we're outta here and back at Leena's...I'm gonna teach you how to use your laptop – properly"

"Surely we won't have time for that, you want to get back in the field right? Senior Agent? And I _can_ use a laptop"

"Please, you can't even change your password without my help. And we will have plenty of time; I plan on having at least a week's worth of R&R"

"Artie would probably want to triple that time. Speaking of Artie, do you want to call him?" Steve looked down at her.

Claudia opened her eyes and looked up at him "No, I don't want to worry him just yet, you know how he gets"

She rested her head back on his shoulder. They both stopped talking. A comfortable silence came between them as they listened to the drumming of the rain against the car. It was very therapeutic. It didn't help Claudia's attempts at staying conscious. Such a soothing sound..._No. must stay awake_, she thought. She was surprised the pain wasn't keeping her conscious but then again, she was starting to lose the feeling in her leg, it was numbing. _Brilliant_.

"Starting to lose feeling in the old wound down here" She said, breaking the silence, still shivering slightly.

"Can you feel this?" Steve pushed both his hands down hard on her leg. Very hard. Claudia could feel _that_.

"Argh! Yes! Dude what the hell?" She sat forward slightly. It hurt and immediately brought back the feeling of pain, eradicating the numbness. It also made her vision swim in front of her she tried blinking it out but it wouldn't stop. Her head swayed. The pain just got worse. She moaned.

"It's bad if you start to lose feeling" Steve said soothingly in her ear "Trust me, it's better to have pain than no feeling. The blood circulation is starting to cut off; it's the only way to keep it moving"

Claudia tried to tell him that she understood but she couldn't so instead she nodded as best as she could. Her eyes were closed tightly as she leaned back into him. Steve kept the hard pressure, the pain was stubborn, and it would not desist, only persist and get worse. Too worse. Too much pain. She was losing it again...fading...fading...into black.

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**TBC **

**Tell me what you think, i'm running out of inspiration... **


	5. Chapter 5

**Apologies for a slow update you guys. I had some exams to do recently that i needed to revise for so I had to take a break from this. I want to get this done before season 4 returns so updates should be quicker from now on :) **

**And a thank you to the people who reviewed :)**

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Claudia opened her eyes to a bright white light that shocked her receptors. _Holy crap, I'm dead!_

"Claudia" She heard a muffled voice, a man's voice, a voice she recognised. _Dad?_ She questioned.

"Claudia" There it was again...that voice. _I need to reply. _She tried to speak but merely a small croak was made. She tried again.

"Dad?" Her vision was starting to make more sense. She blinked a lot to help speed it up, which worked. She could see a ceiling. _So heaven has houses? Cool._ The light was now less bright and as she looked around, she could see the walls of a room, a bedside table and a man sat on a chair close to a bed she was lying on. Finally she could see normally. _Huh, heaven looks sort of like a hospital. _

"Claudia?" The voice again. She looked around at the man who spoke her name. It was Artie. _Artie?_

"I'm not dead?" She said rather stupidly. She felt a bit stupid to be honest. Thinking she was in heaven, worse still thinking Artie was her Dad.

"No, kiddo, you're not dead, it was a close call though" Artie replied, looking relieved that she was finally conscious.

Claudia sat up quickly and said "Please tell me I didn't actually call you 'Dad'?"

"I didn't hear anything if you didn't want me to" He replied, with a small and slightly hidden smile on his face. Claudia exhaled and flopped back down onto the bed. They both paused as they looked at each other, a calming moment in which they both acknowledged that everything was alright. Artie broke the silence.

"So how are you feeling?"

"mmm" She thought on it. "Not that bad actually, a little tired, I guess..." She peeked under the covers at her leg. It was heavily bandaged, her curiosity got the better of her and she gave it a good poke – nothing. No pain whatsoever. She smiled with satisfaction then looked up at Artie "Where's Jinksy? Is he ok?"

"Oh Steve? Yeah, he's fine. He's just in the cafeteria with Pete and Myka." He paused "You know you scared me, right?" an almost shy look on his face.

"Artie..." Claudia wasn't entirely sure what to say "Look at me; I'm fine now, okay? The worst is over" She tried to smile at him but there was something in his eyes that gave her an uneasy feeling. It was a look she's never seen before. "Artie?"

He leaned in "Listen to me Claudia. When I find the piece of _scum_ that did this to you I swear I will repay him the favour of what he did to you-"

"Artie!" Claudia cut him off. She was shocked at what he was saying. "Artie, what are you talking about? You're talking about intentionally seriously injuring or possibly _killing_ someone? That's not you, Artie. You don't go after people for vengeance!"

"I do if they hurt the people I love" He replied quickly. Silence. They both stared at each other. It had never been said before. Yeah, they were like family and love was there but never had it been spoken out loud. Claudia didn't know what to say for the second time.

"Artie..." She broke the silence but wasn't sure how to fill it.

"Claudia, you mean so much to me. You're the daughter I never had and I can't-" his voice wavered and he swallowed hard and paused. He was practically braking down in front of her. Claudia leaned forward and took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. He looked her in the eye "I can't see you like this without doing something about it"

"Well I'm not going to try and stop you. There's no point. I know you and you'll do it anyway" Claudia replied gently. "But I can tell you that you're an old idiot, if you hurt yourself"

* * *

1 Week later.

* * *

Artie was sat at his desk chair in the office at the Warehouse. He'd been running a scan for a good two hours now. Relentlessly searching and searching for some sign of that _bastard_ to pop up somewhere on the grid. He'd been at his desk for days, he'd only left the warehouse four times in the last six days and that was only to check up on Claudia at the B&B, making sure she was resting. She had recovered well so far, just yesterday she managed to walk (albeit at a snail's pace) from her room, down the stairs, without assistance from anyone or her crutches, to the kitchen to smuggle some ice cream out of the fridge.

He smiled to himself as he thought of her getting bored and restless at the B&B. _She's got Myka and Leena right now _he thought to himself. He had Pete and Steve doing inventory as it had piled up massively recently. He stood to check on their progress and was on his way onto the balcony when his computer started bleeping away at him. A ping. Artie ran back to the desk and began typing away so fast he could have given Claudia a run for her money. The location and several words came up onto the screen. He froze.

"I'll be damned" he muttered. He ran to balcony this time and shouted at the top of his voice "PETE! I FOUND HIM!" he didn't wait for a reply but ran back to his desk and continued typing. Pete came running into the office a minute later, closely followed by Steve.

"You got him?" Pete asked, slightly breathless as he and Steve had run all the way from aisle 51. He walked up to the desk and looked at the screen. "No freaking way. That asshole has another artefact?"

"I know where he is" Artie said in a quiet yet vicious tone. He turned and grabbed his black bag and walked purposefully towards the door.

"Artie?"

"You're just going? Artie!" Steve stepped forward in front of him, blocking him from leaving.

"Out of my way, Steve"

"You're being reckless, you don't even have a plan!"

"Oh I have a plan alright. I'm gonna teach that rat a lesson. Now you can both come with me to get the artefact – you know – do our job and at the same time teach him a lesson or you can stay here and continue with inventory. Your choice" A pause.

"Where's my jacket?" Steve said strongly; ready to punish this guy for what he did to Claudia.

"I'll call Myka, tell her we got a ping" Pete said as he picked up his car keys.

They left the warehouse and piled into the black SUV. Pete put his foot down and drove across the badlands. Artie was in the passenger seat, Steve in the back, placing his Tesla into his back pocket. Pete propped his Farnsworth against the dashboard and pushed the familiar button to call Myka who was at the B&B. She answered quickly.

"Hey Pete, you ready to swap? Leena's making cookies, you wanna come down here and lick the bowl?" She said with a smile on her face.

"We got him" Pete said quite bluntly. Myka stared at his face, her smile gone and a look of hard understanding replaced it. "We're coming to pick you up now, should be there in five. Kirk out" He shut the Farnsworth. "Artie it'll take us around two hours to get to that part of Iowa mentioned on the computer" Pete said to Artie.

"You can make it in an hour and a half if you put your foot down" Artie replied.

"Do you know what artefact he has?" Steve asked from the back seat.

"I'm not sure, all I got from the ping was the location of the shoe factory in Spencer city and that none of the workers have left in a few days. No one can get in to find out why either. Killner popped up on the grid as an employee there. My guess is it's some kind of controlling artefact, it wouldn't surprise me if he's taken over the place. Either that or the artefact is from another source although I doubt it, if he could get his hands on one artefact then he could just as easily get another"

They reached the B&B and all three got out of the car. Myka was already in the hallway, putting on her boots when they all stepped onto the premises.

"Mykes we found him, he's in Spencer city. We think he has another artefact" Pete said.

"No way" She replied, pulling on her jacket.

"Where's Claudia?" Artie asked

"She's in her room" replied Leena, who had just entered the hallway from the kitchen. Artie went upstairs.

"Claudia?" he poked his head around the door. She was sat up in bed tuning her guitar.

"Oh hey eyebrows, what's up?" She said looking up briefly before going back to her tuning. Artie walked into her room and sat on the end of her bed.

"I found him" He said. Claudia looked up. Looked into his eyes.

"...And you're gonna-"

"I'm gonna go after him"

"Artie...I know I told you I didn't want you to go and that I wasn't going to try and stop you but...I really don't want you to, you could get hurt or I don't know-"

"Claudia, he has an artefact-"

"What? Another one?"

"And I'm going after it as well. I'm doing my job remember that. Pete, Myka and Steve are coming with me, I'll have backup. I don't want you to worry"

Claudia pushed back the covers and heaved herself forward and began slowly pulling her leg over the side of the bed.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm coming with" she said, as though it was blatantly obvious.

"I don't think so. Look at you, you can hardly stand let alone chase after an artefact!"

"I don't care and I can walk now...sort of" She said, eyeing the floor slightly.

"Sort of? OK, come on then, come with us"

"Huh?"

"You say you can walk, you think you can keep up? Show me" Artie said.

"Fine. I will" She stood and hopped on the spot a little before taking a tiny step forward, then another. She had a small grimace on her face and her teeth were slightly gritted. She continued to her door. Her lips pursed together in mild discomfort. Artie walked along side her and she stopped at the door.

"Oh, is something wrong? Are you unable to continue?" Artie slightly mocked her.

"Okay okay, you're right. I'm a sack of flour, I can hardly move, happy?"

"I'm happy that you made it this far" Artie finished.

"Can I at least go to the warehouse and help you guys out? You might need info while you're in the field" Claudia gave him the puppy eyes. "Please?" She added. Artie frowned at her. He didn't like the idea but he may need someone who had access to information, just in case.

"Fine"

"Hell yeh!"

"But Leena is to drive you and stay with you. I don't want you 'walking' around the warehouse either. Stay in the office with the computer"

"Thanks Artie!" She smiled.

Artie helped her downstairs and he, Pete, Steve and Myka got into the SUV and Leena helped Claudia slowly towards the El Camino. It was time to catch an artefact and punish this bad guy.

* * *

**TBC **

**Tell me what you think... reviews give me motivation :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you people who reviewed :) **

**And so it continues...**

"Okay, so Artie – this guy – this Max Killner, where is he now? What has he done with this artefact?" Myka questioned Artie from the back of the SUV as they sped along the highway. Artie turned round in his seat at the front.

"He's, well I think, he's taken over a shoe factory in Spencer City-"

"What? Why?" Myka cut him off.

"I'm guessing he wants to impose some power over people, to feel like he's gained something in his pathetic life"

"Artie, if he's taken over the place, what about the workmen? Won't they be a little bit of a problem to us? If this artefact has made them under Killner's control then won't they – I don't know – _retaliate_, when they see us barge in there, Tesla's blazing?" Steve asked.

"It's a possibility..." Artie said, almost under his breath, in deep thought.

"We need a plan, we don't know what could be waiting for us once we're there" Pete added, his eyes on the road.

"I'll call Claudia, she should be at the Warehouse about now, she can hack into the security camera feed and give us a perimeter check and possibly give us an idea of what it looks like inside the place" Artie said.

"Good call" Pete nodded. Artie retrieved his Farnsworth from his bag and called Claudia. She answered quickly.

"Hey Artie" Her voice was heard throughout the car as they continued speeding along.

"Claudia, are you at the Warehouse yet?" Artie asked

"Sat at the desk right now, been here ten minutes already, had time to beat my last high score on fruit ninja"

"Alright, you may be on R and R but you are still able to type so get typing, please. I need you to hack into the Spencer City security camera feed at the Armstrong Shoes Limited factory and give me a perimeter check on the premises and get into the security feed _inside_ the factory"

"Easy like Sunday morning. Halla back in five" She shut the Farnsworth and Artie placed his own Farnsworth back in his bag.

They continued down the busy road in silence. Each one of them having their own individual thought processes. Five minutes of silence later, Claudia buzzed Artie's Farnsworth just as she said she would. Artie answered swiftly.

"What you got?"

"Well I tapped the feed and did a perimeter check – it looks like there are several other operating camera's that you'll want to avoid if you want to get inside without detection however there is one camera that's down, it's round the back of the factory in loading bay C. You can easily access it via the rear entrance so make sure you take the right turn when you're on the approach"

"Nice work. Did you get a look at the interior?"

"Just searching it now...there are three floors, one and two look like they're for production. They're just full of machinery and well - shoes"

"Manned machinery? Or Automatic?" Myka asked over Artie's shoulder.

"Bit of both, there is less workers on the second floor than the first from what I can tell. No guarantees on that though, I can see through the cameras but I can't adjust them"

"And the third floor?" Chimed in Steve.

"...It's just management, all the camera's show is corridors" Claudia replied slowly as she found the images for the third floor. "If _Max_ is in this factory" she slated his name "my best guess is he's there" "Also I can see a staircase on the east and west wing that goes through all the floors – that'll be the easiest way of reaching the top floor"

"Alright thanks Claud" Artie said. "Are you staying off your feet?" he added quickly.

"Yes, Artie" Claudia sighed. "Leena's gone all Hawkeye on me, won't let me out of her sight"

"Good" Artie said with satisfaction.

"And Artie –" she paused "be careful, yeah?"

"Don't worry kiddo" He smiled and they both shut their Farnsworth's.

They continued driving for another hour and a half, reaching the industrial area after a further ten minutes. They drove down the correct road to avoid detection from the security camera and parked up in one of the empty lorry spaces. The building was large and very dull; it had grey walls that looked miserable, rubbish and disregarded bits of fabric littered the car park and the area around the loading bay. Pete got out of the car first and went to the boot to get three of the Maximum charge Tesla's; one for Myka, one for Steve and one for himself. Not one for Artie, Pete knew he was feeling a little reckless at this point and giving him one of the big guns would probably be a bad idea. Who knew what he might do? _Probably nothing, he know's what he's doing_ thought Pete, _But just to be on the safe side..._He slammed the boot door down just as the others began exiting the vehicle, leaving the fourth Tesla inside the car.

"Do you think we should find those stairs?" asked Steve as Pete handed him one of the more powerful Tesla's.

"We're not close enough to either the east wing or west. I say we go through the loading bay and follow the same path all the produce takes so that we can reach the manufacturing floor. From there we hide behind machinery until we get an opportunity to move out towards the stairs" He finished as Myka gave him an impressed nod.

"Artie? Sounds like a good plan, yes?" Myka asked his back as he stared up at the large factory that towered over them. Pete passed her her weapon.

"Yes? Oh oh, yes. Sounds good" She had clearly interrupted a deep thought, she could see it getting smaller in his eyes.

"Let's go" Steve said, getting a firmer hold on his weapon as he lead the way inside, through the loading bay.

It was dark and quiet; the footsteps of the four agents could be heard as they marched across the cold concrete floor, in the distance the low hum of the machines could be heard, the brainwashed workers still running them like normal. Around them were several pieces of discarded machinery that were slowly gathering dust and pipes dripped and hung, broken, from the ceiling. The walls were plane old cinderblock without the hope of a single lick of paint. Ahead of them was a red door – or it may have been red once upon a time, that lead to the production area. They headed towards it, the sounds of the machines beyond getting louder and louder.

"Artie" Myka whispered, though there wasn't much point as the clattering of machines covered any other sound. "Artie, how do we get in without them seeing us?"

"I'm not sure...maybe there is another door round here somewhere..." he trailed off, his eyes scanning the large area for another door. "Over there" he said, pointing towards a grey door that blended in with the walls, it had a small and very dirty rectangular shaped window in it. They walked forwards and once there, Pete began etching away some of the grime with his thumb so as to see through the door discretely.

"What do you see?" Myka asked

"Urmm, well beyond this big random hulk of metal, I can see little heads bobbing around but besides that – not much"

"There's a big random hulk of metal?" Steve asked.

"I like the sound of a big random hulk of metal" Myka nodded "This is our vantage point, right?"

"Right" echoed Artie.

Pete opened the door slowly and with a smallest gap as possible. He snaked his way through and crouched behind the un-identifiable piece of metal. Steve and Myka followed then came Artie, needing to open the door slightly further than the others because of his extra _insulation. _

They all crouched together keeping quiet.

"Artie" whispering was necessary now; if they were detected at this point it would be game over. Myka spoke "Can you get a look at these guys? See if they show any specific signs that would tell us what artefact this is?"

"I'll try" As he was on the end of the miniature huddle they had going on, it was easiest for him to quickly peek round. Steve was on the other end and he did the same, he saw _a lot _of workmen busying themselves with their machines.

"They look pretty normal to me" Steve whispered

"No, No, No, look at the way they're moving, it's like a march of some kind...military?" He questioned to himself as his vocalised thought process went back inside his head. Steve took out his Farnsworth and called Claudia, she answered quickly again.

"Jinksy! Hey du-"

"Ssssshhhhhh" Steve hurriedly told her to shush. She did so.

"What is it?" She spoke quietly

"We need to you to research into artefacts that control people – large amounts of people" He added. "Particularly ones that have a marching effect on people, maybe military related or something"

"Gotcha, I'll call you back in a sec"

"No, no, don't" Pete butted in with a worried whisper "The noise of the Farnsworth might draw unwanted attention. We'll call you, ok?"

"Ok dude, I get it, we're keeping it quiet, jeez" Claudia replied. The conversation ended and Steve looked around again, searching for an exit to the stairs. He could see the door but it would be impossible to reach it without being seen.

"What you got on your end?" Steve whispered to Artie, who peeked round to take a look.

"I see the door but they'd see us if we moved toward it"

"Same"

"Are we gonna have to fight our way out of this? Through all of them?" Myka asked.

"Anyone else got another plan? This is really as far as my one goes" Pete said, raising his hands to show he was out of ideas.

"We fight?" Steve asked the three of them.

"We fight" Myka and Pete replied simultaneously and Artie nodded.

"Let me just call Claudia back before we go once more unto the breech" Steve said as he took out his Farnsworth again. She answered and went straight to the point in a fast whisper.

"OK so I did some digging and found the most likely artefact that isn't already in the warehouse is Joan of Arc's armour, specifically the wrist guard. It was stolen from the full set in 1905 and hasn't been seen since"

"And Joan of Arc was...?" Pete asked

"She is one of the patron saints of France, lived in the 15th century and was a leader of the French army during the hundred years war. Her army were willing to do anything for her and did everything she told them to do, sound familiar? If he's got an artefact that makes people become his to control, the only explanation I've found is her wrist armour"

"Thanks Claud, do you know if there are any effects on the user of the artefact?" Myka leaned over Pete to ask.

"It says that Joan of Arc had many victories, maybe one too many and her men believed they could succeed in everything they did, as did she. There is a chance that he may be feeling over confident about all of his actions which could lead to an advantage to you guys" She finished.

"Steve, would you pass me the Farnsworth please?" Artie asked him. Steve handed the little box to him.

"Hey Artie" she whispered to him

"Hey kiddo, listen we're going to have to fight the workers in our current location in the factory. I want you to disable the security camera network for the entire building, you got that?" he asked, leaning into the screen slightly.

"Yeah I got it but Artie, if I disable them, I won't know where you guys are or if there is trouble ahead of you"

"I know but we need to move from our vantage point and the only way to do that is to fight our way out to reach the stairs and if they see us wreaking havoc on their screens up in security, then we're toast" He replied.

"Alright" she said, not completely happy with his decision, she wanted to keep track of their movements to make sure they were ok but she did as he asked anyway. It was easy really, after a small amount of clicking and typing it was done. "Ok, done. All camera's down"

"Thanks Claudia, we'll call you again at some point" Artie added

"Good luck you guys" She said, before closing her Farnsworth.

"Alright, this is it" Steve said, checking both of his Tesla's were ready for action.

Myka did the same as she said "Judging by the size of the room here, we should take on a quarter each and try and help each other out when we need it. I also think we should split up when we're done. Pete, you take the east wing stairs with me, and Artie, you take the west with Steve, okay?"

"OK" Artie said, pulling out his smaller Tesla. "We should really start taking Claudia's Tesla grenades out with us, it would make moments like _this_" he gestured his head towards the room "a whole lot easier"

They were all ready.

"On three?" Pete suggested.

"On three" the other three agents replied and with that, they got up and ran; Pete and Myka to the left of the hunk of metal and Artie and Steve to the right.

**TBC**

**Tell me what you think please, reviews give me a higher incentive to continue :) **


	7. Chapter 7

**So the previous chapter was more of a filler chapter to get the team to this point in the story. **

**KJay99: Please could you tell me how you thought the characters were out of character? I need to know so that I can fix it so it's not a problem for future chapters – this is still my first fic remember ;) **

As soon as they emerged with their guns at hand, the workmen moved like north magnets towards them.

"Intruders!" They all simultaneously shouted like robots as they abandoned their machines and charged.

The four of them split up, Pete ran towards the workers as a group came at him head on. This was Pete's chance to let out some of his suppressed anger at what had happened to Claudia. He screamed. They screamed. Pete raised his weapon as he jumped over a large pipe on the ground and fired his Tesla, taking out four of them straight away. _4 down_ he thought. He still had a good twenty or so others left to plough through.

Two ran forward together at him, each carrying a short, heavy looking metal pole above their head, ready to bring them down hard. Pete bent double and dropped his weapon on the floor, as he did so, he forward rolled underneath them and kicked them both hard in the back, making the two fall to the floor. Pete was back on his feet in seconds and instantly ducked a right hook thrown from another worker, as he ducked, he picked up his Tesla and rammed the butt into his new attacker's face as he stood once more.

He took three strides forward and fired his Tesla again, removing five of the men from his eye line.

Steve was in a similar situation. He had the upper hand on them and had pulled off several well aimed kicks and fired his Tesla at every chance he got. _Thank god Claudia rigged these_ he thought as he fired yet another blast as three workers came running at him all screaming "We will die for our leader!"

They all dropped like flies on top of each other as they landed hard on the cold concrete. Steve ducked as a particularly large work man attempted to jump on him. Steve kicked him hard in the butt and he face planted the floor. Like Pete, he used the end of his Tesla to knock out yet another on coming employee. As he did so, a young worker wacked Steve's shin with a crow bar; it was like a shock to his system and for a moment little stars popped around in his vision, he blinked it out and quickly Tesla'd the guy into unconsciousness.

The workers were not very skilled at fighting; only a few knew some basic manoeuvres. It was just fighting a large quantity at the same time that made it difficult.

Steve looked up and saw Myka had found herself a vantage point on top of a large piece of machinery. Any workers that climbed up towards her she simply kicked off again and fired at will at the many men attempting to catch her from two meters below. Steve was still pretty swamped and Myka had nearly finished all of her section off.

"Myka!" he shouted as he dodged a heavy looking metal ball that was thrown forcefully in his direction.

"Steve?" Myka replied as she was having a one to one combat moment on her vantage point with her last remaining opponent. She quickly showed the guy who was boss after she had picked up her Tesla and shot him clean in the face. She turned around and jumped down from the machines.

"A little help?" Steve managed as he side stepped another right hook. Myka ran forward to help, quickly wiping a small amount of blood from her nose as she did so and fired her Tesla at a sneaky work man who was about to smash a glass bottle onto Steve's head.

Artie was using a number of different artefacts from his seemingly bottomless black bag to help fight his miniature battle. He was just as speedy as Myka, clearing out half of his opponents using Hammer Lane's knuckle strap to give him the strength to beat the many workers off. The work men were shocked at what Artie was able to do with the artefact he had; this panicked them all slightly for a brief moment however nothing seemed to stop them completely from attacking – the artefact influence on them was clearly very strong. Only a few remained of Artie's batch and they were easily rid of within a couple of minutes.

While the fighting was at its peak, the factory floor had been very loud with noises of shouting and screaming but as more and more employees became subdued, the room got quieter and quieter. Now, it was silent.

The four agents came together in the centre of the room to catch their breath. They each looked around; panting and observed the four sections of unconscious bodies they'd left in their wake.

"Are we all okay?" Myka asked the guys as she flicked back her rather dishevelled hair away from her face.

"I'm Dandy" Pete said, while brushing some dirt off his jeans. He looked up and pointed at Myka's face. "Myka, you've got...a little..." He trailed off as he gently wiped away some fresh blood slowly snaking its way out of her nose again.

"It's fine Pete. I'm fine" Myka fussed and Pete took away his hand.

"Are we ready?" Artie asked.

"Sure Artie. I'm with you aren't I?" Steve asked Artie.

"Yeah, we'll take the east wing stairs. Pete, Myka, you take the west. We meet in the middle on the upper floor – got it?"

"Got it" Pete and Myka both replied.

"We keep in touch by Farnsworth on the stairs so we can time the movement" Artie added as they split up and each headed to the stairs.

Artie angled his head upwards to see how many flights of stairs there were, more than he thought there would be but not so many that it would leave him breathless by the time he reached the top. There were no lights on the stairs, so Artie and Steve started moving in the near darkness. Steve checked over his Tesla to see if it was still functioning properly, _Is it possible for these things to jam?_ He thought as he gave it a small shake while following behind Artie up the stairs. _Let's hope we don't find out_.

They reached the top and peeked through the thin pane of class in the door way. Inside, there were fewer men than on the first floor, as Claudia had said however Artie noticed something about these work men. Steve had noticed it too and pointed it out "Artie, are they carrying hand guns?"

"It looks like it" He said as he squinted his eyes to see the black weapons strapped to their hips more clearly.

"I guess it's a no go for contact combat then?" Steve asked.

"We're gonna have to shoot at them when they least expect it and all at the same time to get rid of the majority quickly then we'll figure something out to deal with the ones that are left" Artie replied, in deep thought "This means...we need to each find a space in the room where we can each be undetected by anyone and yet still get a clear shot at the same time..." he finished and fished out his Farnsworth.

Myka's face appeared on the circular screen.

"Artie, what's the plan? Have you seen, they're armed?" She asked him.

"Yes, they are armed so we need to get into the room and move between machinery as quickly as possible so we can fire simultaneously" He paused "Call me back when you and Pete are in position and we'll stay on the Farnsworth's while we fire, to keep co-ordination" He finished.

"Alright Artie, call you in five" Myka shut the Farnsworth and turned to Pete, who was crouched next to her peering through the door, just like Artie had.

"Hey Myks, there is a row of un-manned machinery near the back wall, the conveyor belt, see?" He pointed and Myka followed his finger with her eyes. The conveyor stretched the entire length of the back wall and rattled along, carrying hundreds of identical trainers.

"Do you think we can get behind that thing?" Myka questioned.

"Sure we can" Pete replied, in a mildly convincing tone. Myka raised a questioning eye brow at him as if to say 'Really?' Pete sighed and said "Alright, it's either the conveyor belt or I think I can see a lovely pile of ancient, smelly and probably mouldy, trainers in the opposite corner over-"

"Okay, okay conveyor belt it is!" Myka interrupted him, hearing enough about the smelly shoes.

"Alright. So...do we just run for it and hope they don't see us?" Pete asked her.

"I guess so"

"Any ideas when we accelerate?"

"I don't know...do you have a vibe about when is the best timing?"

"Not really, I say we wing it"

"Oh, how professional" Myka mocked and earned a hard flick in the arm. She pushed open the door merely an inch to see inside. The room was just as big as the first floor however there seemed to be less space available, this floor had much more machinery and was therefore much louder and they rattled and hummed. A small flight of stairs was located in the middle of the room, which led to the top floor. The work men were busying themselves with whatever it they did all day long, like slaves under Max's control. They all looked engrossed in what they were doing and Myka had a feeling that this was a better time than any to get inside. "On three..." she whispered, and Pete nodded. "One"

"Two" Pete said.

"Three" Myka finished and they pushed open the door quickly together and ran, or rather sprinted as fast as they could while bent double. _Thank god the door isn't a squeaky one_ Pete thought to himself as he followed Myka behind the conveyor. They made it without detection as it was only a five or six meter long gap between the door and their hiding place but Pete sighed with relief all the same.

Myka took out her Farnsworth and Artie's bearded face appeared once more.

"Hey Artie, what's your position?" She whispered.

He didn't look happy about something, which was clarified when he said "I'm in this pile of repulsive rotten shoes! They stink, I wouldn't be surprised if they're infested and I don't have time for another infection!"

Pete and Myka had to stifle a laugh to themselves. "We're crouched behind the conveyor belt" Pete informed him.

"I can see it; it runs all the way down. Pete, you go to one end, Myka you go to the other and wait for my signal"

"Where's Jinksy?" Pete asked.

"He's behind some huge machine. I can see him from my _position_. Pete when you're in your place, I will signal Steve and he will call you on your Farnsworth and that way we can all co-ordinate and shoot at the same time"

"Got it" Myka said and Pete moved down the conveyor belt a good twenty meters before reaching the end. She saw him answere his Farnsworth and talk to Steve. Artie's face was staring around the room on Myka's Farnsworth, waiting for the right moment to fire. She looked down the little gap at Pete, who mouthed 'Don't miss' with a cheeky smile and a wink on his face. Myka rolled her eyes at him and looked down at Artie again.

"Alright, it looks like we're ready, I'll count from five" He said quietly to Myka and he nodded at Steve, who had lip-read Artie's 'I'll count from five' and told Pete. Artie had his smaller Tesla in his hand, knowing he would not be able to take out as many as the others. He began to count to Myka. "Five"

Steve saw him start the countdown and counted to Pete. "Four"

Myka placed the Farnsworth on the floor and got a firm grip on her Tesla. "Three" she whispered.

"Two" Pete said, doing the same as Myka.

"One" They all breathed.

**TBC**

**Ok so I wrote this when I was really tired, tell me what you think in a review maybe?**

**;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**First of all, I am sorry for this very slow update but I went on holiday for a month and then school started again and it was all very exciting but you don't really want my life story, you want what happens next, right? **

They all surfaced simultaneously and fired. It was like time had slowed down. The room exploded in a colour of the brightest blue, it reverberated off the walls as the four blasts of electricity erupted from each corner. Myka watched as her trail of shocking blue electricity flew through the air and made contact with several men working at a large machine. They all fell to the floor before they even had time to realize what had happened to them. She quickly ducked down again before she could be seen.

The same story happened with the other three agents. The majority of the workers in the room were unconscious, only five or so remained. They stared around in shock and surprise, only to be replaced by anger seconds later. The men collectively moved towards one of the corners of the room that had produced the sudden light and peeked around the large machine that Steve had previously been hidden behind mere seconds ago. Little to their knowledge, he had silently sprinted across to Artie's spot, unseen, in the brief moment the workers were confused.

"Now?" Steve asked Artie while raising his gun once more.

"Now." Artie replied.

While the workers had their backs turned searching Steve's corner, the two agents hidden in the pile of musty old shoes fired. Just like so many times before, they all crumpled to the ground in a collective heap.

Pete stood from his position. "Nice job you guys. Myka, I'm gonna score you an eight point five and Jinksy, a solid nine." He said as he walked towards them, now all stood in the middle of the room. He raised his hand at Steve for a high five but was repressed by a glare from Artie that could rival Mrs. Frederick.

"We don't have time, Pete. Let's get moving." Artie huffed and walked to the steep staircase located in the middle of the room.

Pete nodded, serious again as Myka spoke. "Do we know where he is up there?" she looked up at the top of the stairs that they were now all stood under.

"We'll find him easily enough." Artie said gruffly as he began his assent.

"Wait, Artie." Steve grabbed his shoulder to stop him going any further up the stairs. "When me and Claud first met this guy, he wasn't alone. He had a few little buddies with him, my guess is they'll be with him again or there may even be more of them. Artie, these guys play rough, we can't barge in there without a plan or at least knowing their position."

Artie frowned at the floor, his foot suspended above the next step. After a brief pause, he took his foot down. "Fine." he said, almost harshly. "But we can't find out where they are using the security cameras, there aren't any located in the rooms, just the corridors, like Claudia said"

"Alright, why don't we call Claudia, ask her to check the corridors again. We'll need to know if they're clear anyway so that when we go up there, we don't run into anyone when we don't expect it." Myka said.

"Then what?" Pete asked her.

"I guess we just take it slowly and have a poke around the rooms and see which one he's in." She said with a slight shrug. "I know it's not a perfect plan but what else is there?"

No-one answered with a better idea so Artie retrieved his Farnsworth and within seconds, Claudia's face appeared again on the screen.

"What do you need?" she said, knowing that at this point Artie would only call her unless he needed something doing.

"I need you to enable the security camera feed for the top floor. Only the top floor. And tell me if the corridors are clear."

"On it." She said. Only her shoulder could be seen as she angled herself away from the Farnsworth screen to type away at the computer however when she spoke, she could still be heard clearly. "Alright it's done. The corridors look empty, just like earlier. I can't see anyone Artie" she said, turning back to him. "Where are you guys?" she asked.

"Where're at the bottom of the middle staircase that leads to the top floor" Pete butted in over Artie's shoulder.

"Did you get through all the workmen ok?" Claudia asked him.

"Yes. Although, we were wishing we brought your Tesla grenade out with us. It would have helped. A lot."

"Dude, you should've just taken it from my room at Leena's."

"Well we left in such a hurry-"

"Um, excuse me. We have an artefact to retrieve." Artie interrupted them both and began climbing the stairs, taking the Farnsworth with him so Pete would stop wasting time. "OK Claud, you can be my eyes." Artie said when he had reached the top. "I'm behind the door that leads into the corridor, is it still clear?"

Claudia looked carefully at the images she could see of the corridor. "Still clear from what I can see, you're good to go."

"I'll call you back." Artie said deeply. Claudia knew he meant 'I'll call you back when this is over' She wondered what Artie would tell her. Would he really kill the guy? Would it get that bad? Claudia didn't like to think it would go that far, the other three are with him, they'll stop him before he does anything too extreme. Her mind also wondered to Steve. She hadn't known him for long when she came to think about it and she wasn't sure on how he would be feeling as she hadn't known him long enough to tell what he is like in situations such as the one they were all in now. _He'll be fine_ she thought to herself, although she was still worried. She hid it well though when she simply said:

"Good luck you guys."

"Thanks Claud." Pete and Myka said at the same time. Steve took a further step up to be next to Artie, his gun raised, his jaw slightly clenched. Ready.

Artie nodded to Claudia and closed the Farnsworth. He turned to the three of them stood around him at the top of the stairs. "Ready?" he asked. They all nodded.

Artie pushed down on the handle of the grey door. It was unlocked. Artie didn't bother to question it as he slowly inched his way into the twenty metre long corridor holding his Tesla at the ready, being as quiet as possible. The others filed in, doing exactly the same manoeuvre. They formed a small square in the middle of the corridor, Pete and Myka facing one way, Artie and Steve facing the other, all weapons raised.

"Which way do we check out first?" Pete asked in a whisper.

"Go right." Artie said, which for Pete and Myka, was the direction they were facing. They moved together as a group. Artie and Steve walking backwards, keeping a sharp eye out for any doors opening.

All the doors leading to rooms were on the opposite side to the door they had come through. The four of them had reached the third door from the end of the corridor. Myka pressed her ear against it to listen for any sound. She could hear nothing.

"I can't hear anything, either no-one is in this room, or the walls and doors of this place are really thick." She informed them.

"Check anyway." Steve said, raising his gun and staring fixatedly at the door handle.

Pete stepped forward and grabbed the handle, the other three stood in front of the door, ready to fire should they see anyone inside. He raised three fingers and dropped each one slowly, signalling when he would open the door. The third finger dropped and Pete wrenched open the door with impressive speed.

Myka, Artie and Steve immediately stepped into the room followed by Pete. It was empty. The only thing in there to see was an abandoned table in one corner and yet more sad and greying walls.

"Nothing." Steve said, his face hard to read and was the first one back into the corridor.

They checked the other two remaining rooms on the right. The first containing nothing but stacks of cardboard boxes filled with shoe laces and the other – empty apart from some forgotten cables hanging from a small hole in the ceiling.

They moved back into the corridor (now at the very end) and resumed their original square-shaped position – Pete and Myka facing one way, Artie and Steve facing the other. Together they paced the floor slowly the way they had come and reached the door to the left of the first one they tried. Again Myka pressed her ear to the door and at first couldn't hear anything but then she could just make out a faint mumbling of some kind.

"Guys, I can hear something." She whispered to them.

"What?" Steve asked her.

"Just...like a mumble – like someone is talking." she replied, her face screwed up with concentration.

"Alright, I think this is it." Artie said. "Steve, you go in first. They'll recognise you so that's your chance to keep them talking and keep their attention on you for when the three of us." He motioned towards Pete, Myka and himself. "Come in."

"OK." Steve said. "Hey Pete, take this." He handed over his Tesla.

"Uhh, won't you be needing this at some point?" Pete asked him.

"Sure, you throw it back to me when you enter the room and besides, I don't want to come over as a threat to them. Yet." He added the last bit under his breath as he placed a hand on the door.

"Oh and Steve, make sure you leave a gap in the door so we can hear what's going on and know when to come in." Myka told him.

He nodded and opened the door as Pete, Myka and Artie moved back a few steps so that there was no risk of being seen when it opened. Already the low mumbling Myka described could now be heard loud and clear; it was a heavy mix of laughter and loud speech from everyone in there. Steve stepped inside. The room was the same size as all the others they had seen however this one wasn't so abandoned: it looked like a homemade pub of sorts and filled with around fifteen men. Tables and chairs were littered here and there, each seat occupied by a member of Max's gang.

The small squeak of the door couldn't be heard over the rumble of combined voices. As soon as Steve was visible, he was instantly met with shouts of harsh questioning from everyone in the room. Steve didn't take notice of the words being shouted at him – his attention was fully focused on the man sat in the back of the room, on the biggest, comfiest chair with freshly rolled joint in his hand.

**TBC**

**I was suffering from writers block for this chapter, I knew how I wanted the story to go but I found it difficult to put it into words if ygm. Thanks for all the follows and reviews on this story so far you guys, it means a lot, keep em coming, they make me happy (: **


	9. Chapter 9

**Well hello, reader. New update for you here...and this update compared to the last one was much quicker me thinks so 10 points to me! Anyway...hope you enjoy...**

Max Killner looked up slowly at what had caused the outbursts from his friends. When he saw Steve, a sly smile spread across his face.

"Well well well, look who it is." As soon as he spoke, the entire room went silent. A large man to the immediate left of Max, who Steve recognised from the farmhouse, stood up quickly and cracked his knuckles menacingly. Steve only glanced at him, not perturbed by his gesture as his only focus was and needed to be Max. "No, no." Max assured his fellow gang member "It's alright, it's my best friend." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

"You shot my best friend." Steve said harshly, unable to help himself.

"I believe it was Aaron who did that." He nodded to another guy sat close by. "And it was your friend who shot me first, know where I can get one of those electro guns?" He laughed to himself, enjoying his position of power and the sound of his own voice. _The Downside – overconfidence,_ Steve thought to himself. Suddenly Max stopped laughing and it was only then that Steve felt the atmosphere in the room – all eyes on him and a deadly silence pressed over everything.

The gang leader leaded forward in his seat and stared at him with a brute expression of anger "Alright enough with the pleasantries. What the fuck are you doing here?" He spat.

"I'm doing my job." Steve replied simply.

"Your job? What are you, some kind of super cop? You one of them government assholes?" He raised his voice.

"Yeah, I'm one of them government assholes." Right now Steve would have to say anything in order to keep talking and wait for the right moment to signal the others to come in. "I'm not here to bust you for the drugs, I'm here to take something from you but if I can kill two birds with one stone then I may as well, I'd love to see you rot in jail." Again, he couldn't help himself.

Although Max hadn't actually been the one to pull the trigger on Claudia, he was the leader, which made it his responsibility, his fault, in Steve's mind and he couldn't help but release tiny snippets of his anger with his replies to Max. He would have his chance, he would have to wait. Wait for the right moment. Steve composed himself in his mind as best he could.

Max smirked and took another drag from his joint. "Let me guess, you got snipers all over the place...couple of helicopters to?" He laughed again, this time his cronies joined in too.

"No, just me. I'm not even armed." Steve turned around slowly in a full circle, his arms slightly raised. More laughter from the men at this, they found him a bit ridiculous, coming in with no weapon, saying all these things. "Like I said, I'm just here to take something." He said calmly.

Max shook with more laughter "You have a death wish?" He turned serious again when he said in a low tone "You aren't taking anything of mine. I can very easily have a bullet put in you, just like your girlfriend and unlike Aaron, I tend to have slightly better aim."

"And like Pete, so do I." Steve said with his voice slightly raised. What happened next was all at a ridiculous speed.

In the split second of confusion where the men tried to process what Steve had said, Pete sprinted through the door and threw the Tesla into Steve's awaiting arms. Straight away he aimed and fired at a large metal beam above Max's head, no doubt filled with wires. Before any of the gang members knew what was going on, the beam came crashing down upon half of them in a spectacular shower of golden sparks.

Some men close to Max tried to move out of the way but were too slow, half of them now trapped and unable to move.

Myka sprinted in immediately after Pete and fired mercilessly at the remaining men who were hurriedly trying to retrieve hand guns and failed miserably, Artie followed suit. Pete, thinking that the other three agents had everything under control went straight for Max, who was attempting to wriggle his way out from under the beam.

In his rage, Pete was at a complete disregard for the artefact that was still strapped to Max's wrist. The agent sprinted over the beam and grabbed on to him by the scruff of the neck.

"Pete don't!" Myka exclaimed.

Pete had every intention of mashing this guy's brain to a pulp but too late. As soon as Pete's hands were at his neck, Max forced the artefact against them. A slight ripple passed between the touching of the hands and Pete's eyes suddenly glowed a bright red.

He slowly let go of Max, who let out a sigh of relief as Pete stood up straight, much like a soldier and said softly to him "What are my orders?"

Max smiled with evil in his eyes when he spoke with soft menace. "Kill her." He raised a bloody hand and pointed to Myka, who was staring at Pete with immense caution.

Pete ran at her at full pelt. Myka, knowing she had no choice but to fight him off, stood her ground and ducked the punch that was thrown at her. She kneed him in the thigh but it hardly had any effect on him as he was much heavier than her. She hated what she was doing but right now, Pete was a dangerous threat. Myka raised her fist and brought it across her partner's face. She raised the other one and fist met face once again.

She went for another punch but this time Pete was ready, he placed his hand over her clenched fist and slowly began twisting. Myka clenched her teeth as she stared into Pete's eyes. He was gone from her, looking back into her eyes was a shell of Pete Lattimer, his face but not his emotion. Blind rage and anger such that Myka had never seen in him before. She knew it wasn't real, Pete was just fuelled by the artefact but all the same, it frightened her.

She raised her spare hand delivered a perfect upper cut to his chin, despite the fact that he was seconds away from breaking her arm. He immediately let go and stumbled backwards. He then immediately lunged for her. He tackled her to the ground and they both became a mess of clothing writhing on the floor. Pete had Myka pinned down and punched her in the stomach twice. They were hard hits and she bit her tongue to keep from crying out.

"Artie!" She shouted just as Pete attempted to reach for her throat. She managed to bend back his fingers, causing him to snarl in pain at her, like an animal, she thought. This stalled Pete long enough for Artie to grab him from behind.

While this was happening, Steve moved though the array of unconscious bodies to Artie's discarded bag. Pulling on a purple glove, he reached in and took out Hammer Lane's knuckle strap and put it onto his non-gloved hand.

He instantly felt the energy and power coursing through his veins and turned and ran at Max, just like Pete but this time, he was prepared.

Steve went straight for Joan of Arc's wrist armour and wrenched it off him using his gloved hand. Then, feeling the power within him increase, he lifted up Max by his throat and pinned him up against the wall, a good foot off the ground. He let out a scream of rage at the drug dealer that had started all of this and without warning, Steve punched him across the face, using the knuckle strap. Blood spattered across Steve's face from the blow but he didn't care, seeing Max bleed made him more eager to do further damage.

He threw another punch in Max's face and Steve felt the immense satisfaction of his nose crunching under the force. Steve punched him in the gut, then again and again, treating him like a punch bag, all the while holding Max up off the floor. The power coursing through him was astounding; he had never felt so strong.

"Myka shoot him!" Artie shouted over Pete's exclamations of anger. Artie held him tight, just long enough for Myka to raise the Tesla and shoot Pete in the chest. He crumpled to the floor in a heavy heap.

As Myka couldn't focus on anything else apart from Pete when she was fighting him off, she didn't notice Steve move over to Max and begin pummelling him to death. The room had gone quiet and all Myka could hear was the grunts from a semi-conscious Max Killner and the shouts of an artefact fuelled Steve.

Myka watched in shock as Steve threw punch after punch into Max's stomach. He was relentless and suddenly let out the loudest scream of all as he reared back and head-butted the guy so hard that even more blood came out of his face. Steve seemed unharmed however and Myka was confused as to what was giving him such strength.

She soon snapped out of her momentary shock and watched as Artie ran forward, carrying two neutraliser bags.

"Steve!" Artie stooped down and bagged the wrist guard that Steve had previously tossed over his shoulder. It sparked heavily.

Artie grabbed Steve roughly by the shoulders and somehow managed to pull him away from Max, who slid down the wall and slumped onto the floor.

Artie looked into Steve's crazed eyes that were tinged red at the edges and said as sternly as possible and in a low tone so as not to make him mad. "Stop. You are being too excessive with this artefact, it will consume you if you keep it on for much longer."

Steve just looked confused, as though he had difficulty hearing and understanding what was said to him. His ears were ringing and his mouth was dry, he felt strange. Artie pulled off Hammer Lane's knuckle strap, while Steve was trying to remove his confusion, and bagged it.

As soon as the sparks cleared, so did Steve's mind. His ears stopped ringing and mouth was back to normal. Although now his heart rate had gone way up. He began panting heavily and bent double, hands on knees.

"Wha – What's happening?" he wheezed.

"When you were using the artefact, all your energy was fuelled by it, this is just your body's way of 'catching up', you'll be fine." Artie told him and he patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Steve stood up straight and glanced at Max slumped on the ground, his face unrecognisable and covered in blood. Steve gulped slightly and raised his face to Artie's. "Did I...Did I do..." he didn't want to finish his sentence.

Artie looked at him with a serious expression and said. "I'm just glad it was you, not me. If I'd done that, I fear I would not have been able to stop."

Steve nodded to him and walked over to Myka, who was sat with Pete, waiting for him to regain consciousness.

Artie looked at the mess in front of him, the broken tables and chairs, the wiring from the beam, the beam itself – with squashed men underneath it, all of them bleeding and possibly dead. Artie didn't care about them. His eyes landed on the mashed face of the man he hated and knelt down in front of him so that they were eye to eye.

He grabbed Max by the scruff of his neck, getting some of his blood on his hands. The drug dealer slightly opened his one good eye, as the other was already turning black, and looked Artie square in the face. Artie looked murderously at him and when he spoke; his voice was dangerously low and harsh.

"I could kill you here and now." He said, an almost wild look in his eyes.

"N-No." Max managed in his state. He could almost feel the older man's anger that was seething through him.

Artie shook the scruff of Max's shirt he had hold of. "Why not? You would do it to me, wouldn't you? Cowardly men like you are pathetic." He spat. "I'm not going to kill you; I won't sink to your level. But I will personally see to your imprisonment in jail for what you've done and for lord knows how many other things you've done. Agent Jinks seems to have done all of my intended work for me and I believe prison doesn't accept dead men so I guess you should think yourself lucky that I didn't get my hands on you, you worthless piece of – " SLAP! Artie hit him hard across the cheek, his last word un-heard due to the loud noise it made.

It was enough. Max's head rolled to the side, he was fully unconscious. Artie had knocked him out.

He stood up slowly and carefully and turned to the other three agents, who were stood watching him. They were all silent. Artie cleared his throat slightly and addressed Myka: "Call the police, or the feds, they need to get this place cleaned up."

"Already done, Artie. They're on their way." She paused. They all did, as they looked around the completely trashed room. "We should leave." She said, breaking the silence.

"They'll be waking up soon." Pete seconded.

They all turned and left the room, Artie giving one last look at everything, knowing he'll regret it later – he didn't want the image of their left over carnage stuck in his mind but he couldn't help it.

When they emerged at the top of the stairs on the second floor, the work men, now free from the influence of the artefact, looked around the room, all with an identical expression of confusion on their faces.

Some of them noticed the four agents coming down the stairs towards the large group they had formed.

"Hey!" One of them shouted. Myka was in the lead and was first to reach the bottom of the stairs. She walked towards the men who began bombarding her with questions all at once. She simply sighed under the noise and raised her badge in the air. _That shut them up_ she thought.

"Okay gentlemen – " She began but was cut off by an older worker.

"Excuse me." He said rather innocently. "What's going on?" he looked at her almost pleadingly.

Myka wasn't quite sure how to respond, a lot had happened in a short amount of time. She was thankful when Pete stepped in. "Mushrooms, gentlemen. Mushrooms. It seems you've all either eaten the mushrooms or been unknowingly exposed to them at some point."

Myka caught on. "Yes, we are currently maintaining the situation so if you would all like to follow me this way please, we need to get you outside to have you assessed." She raised her voice so all the men could hear and once again raised her badge above her head and began walking towards the next set of stairs. Everyone followed her lead.

They explained the same thing to the work men on the ground floor, who were just as confused. When they all reached the loading bay where the SUV was parked, there were a number of other vehicles arriving also, some men holding guns were already emerging and running into the factory.

An important looking man, who the four of them assumed was in charge, got out of his sleek black car.

"I'll talk to him." Artie said to the three of them. Clearly some 'explaining' was needed to be done. Myka watched Artie weave his way through the running armed men that were being fed into the building and the workers who were being talked to by some official.

"Well, that went well." Pete said, clapping his hands together as he turned to Myka and Steve, who still looked a little shell shocked.

"Jinksy, you ok?" Myka asked him.

He inhaled deeply. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, I'm okay." He said truthfully. Although he really just wanted to get back to the Warehouse.

Myka seemed satisfied with his reply so turned to Pete, who was gently poking his soon-to-be-black eye.

"Pete, I'm sorry." She said to him.

"For what, Mykes?"

"For...hitting you, and...kicking you and well, knocking you out with the Tesla, and everything...I know it wasn't really you attacking me but I still feel bad I mean, look at your eye, that's gonna bruise Pete." She looked up at him, a caring expression on her face.

"Myka, it's fine, really. You did what you had to do. And I'm sorry if I hurt you at all. I'm just glad this is over." He finished, smiling at her.

She nodded back to him as Artie came back over.

"Right, we're out of here." He said.

"Everything cleared up?" Steve asked him.

"Yep. We're both government. They do their job, we do ours. Let's go."

They all went back to their car and piled in, homeward bound.

**Do you think I should finish the story here? Or should I do like one more chapter of them getting back to the warehouse and such? I think it could easily end here but what do you think? Oh and you could also tell me how you thought the chapter was maybe? If you want to? **

**Much love x. **


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